Patents of Invention

– Law No. 64/1991 on Patents of Invention, in force since October 21, 1991, last amended on June 26, 2014.
– Implementing Regulations to the Patent Law No. 64/1991 as republished in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 456/18.vi.2008.
– Law No. 611 of November 13, 2002, concerning adhesion to the European Patent Convention.
– Law on Utility Models No. 350/2007, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 851, December 12, 2007.
– Government Ordinance No. 41/1998 on the Fees in the Industrial Property Protection Field and the Conditions for Using the Same, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 959, November 29, 2006.
– EEC Regulations No. 469/2009, 1901/2006 and EC Regulations No. 1610/1996.
– Law on Employees' Inventions No. 83/2014, in force since June 29, 2014.

Membership in International Conventions

– Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, Stockholm Act.
– Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), since April 26, 1970.
– Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Washington 1970, since July 23, 1979.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.
– Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification, since March 31, 1999.
– Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms, since September 25, 1999.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since March 16, 2001.
– European Patent Convention, since March 1, 2003.
– Patent Law Treaty, since April 28, 2005.

Filing

Applicant: the inventor or his legal successor (individuals, firms and companies).

Nationals, foreigners and nationals not living in the country: must appoint a domestic professional authorized representative residing in Romania.

Filing Office: State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (in Romanian: OSIM). 

Naming of inventor(s): compulsory, but the inventor may request not to be mentioned in any published document. 

Notion of invention: the subject matter of the invention must be novel, resulting from an inventive activity and be susceptible to an industrial use.

Kinds of protection: (1) patent of invention; (2) patent for new plant varieties (see Section VII. New Plant Varieties).

Categories: a patent can cover a product, a machine or device, a process or a method, including its use.

Novelty: not to be disclosed in the prior art, taking into consideration all public knowledge (written, oral or use) prior to the filing or priority date, and also all Romanian, PCT and European patent applications filed before that date. A grace period of six months is allowed if such a disclosure is made by an obvious abuse concerning the applicant or by displaying the invention in an internationally recognized exhibition.

Not patentable: inventions contrary to the public order and public morals; ideas, discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, computer programs, solutions having an economic or organizational character, diagrams, educational and teaching methods, game rules, urbanistic systems, systematization plans and methods, physical phenomena (all per se), culinary receipts, aesthetic features.

Priorities: priority (also multiple priorities) may be claimed of a patent or utility model application filed in a country member of the Paris Convention or the WTO, inclusive of a Romanian patent application. A fee for each priority must be paid. Failure to pay the priority claiming fee leads to the non-recognition of priority. Restoration of the priority right may be granted, if requested, within two months from the expiration of the twelve-month term.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney (bilingual, simply signed by the applicant), can be filed later, within two months from the date on which the applicant is notified by the State Office with reference to filing the missing document, or within four months from the filing date, or from the date of opening the national phase, whichever expires later;
2. Description, claims, drawings, abstract (may be filed in an international language; Romanian translation to be filed within two months from the filing date);
3. Assignment from the inventor(s) to the applicant if the applicant is not the same as the inventor(s), to be filed until a decision is taken (notarized bilingual document);
4. If priority is claimed, priority document(s) must be filed within sixteen months from the earliest priority date (but not required for entering the Romanian phase of a PCT application).

Electronic filing: possible via the EPO Online Filing (EPO-OLF).

Electronic signatures: are not accepted (only wet signatures).

PCT applications: time limit for entering the national phase under both PCT Chapters I and II: 30 months and late entry can be done for justified reasons, within two months from the date of the expiry of the 30-month time limit, subject to payment of a fee in an amount equal to the amount of the fee for filing an application for reinstatement.
–   A translation into Romanian of the whole specification and the same documentation as above plus a copy of the PCT request, a copy of the PCT application as filed, a copy of the International Search Report (International Preliminary Examination Report) and a copy of the amendment(s) under Art. 19 or 34 of the PCT, or voluntary amendments, if any and if they are to be reflected in the national phase application. No priority document is required.

For a change of name or address: proof of change of name/address such as an excerpt from the Company Register (notarized copy) or a notarial declaration from the applicant/owner in original.

Examination

Publication: the patent application is published immediately after expiration of eighteen months from filing or priority date, with the exception of a secret invention (National Defense) or inventions for which a granting, rejection or withdrawal decision has been issued before the eighteen-month term. Urgent publication is possible after four months from the filing date. The publication may be accompanied by a search report, however the search report can be published at a later date.

Examination: a request for examination may be filed concomitantly with the application or may be deferred for maximum thirty months from the national deposit date. For the national phase of a PCT application, examination has to be requested within thirty months from the date of entry into national phase. Failure of filing of the request for examination within the prescribed term of thirty months leads to rejection. The application is examined as to the form and unity of invention, novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability. The State Office is entitled to request the documents and explanations that are considered prerequisite for fulfillment of the patentability conditions. Upon the State Office request or by a voluntary action the applicant or his legal successor may amend the claims, drawings and/or specification without exceeding the initial scope. 

Division: possible until a decision is taken.

Transformation into a utility model application: possible until a decision is taken.

Granting, Protection

Granting or rejection: decisions should be taken by an Examination Commission within a minimum term of eighteen months from the filing of the request for examination. The mention of the decision to grant a patent shall be published in the Official Industrial Property Bulletin within one month from the date on which the legal three-month time limit for appeal has elapsed. The fees for publication and issuance of the Letters Patent are payable within the same four months. 

Appeal: the State Office decision may be appealed within a three-month term from the communication date thereof.

Opposition/revocation: any third party is entitled to ask for a partial or total cancellation of the decision to grant by a written and well-grounded request filed within six months from the publication of the decision. Appeals or oppositions are examined within three months from their filing by a Reexamination Committee within the State Office and can be further appealed to the Bucharest Court within three months. 

Delivery of document: the Letters Patent is issued in paper format only.

Duration: twenty years from the filing date; extension possible only via SPCs (see below). 

Annuities: must be paid after the date of grant. Accumulated annuities must be paid within twelve months from the date of publication of the decision to grant, for all years counted from the filing date and including the year of grant.

Annuity grace period with fine (50% of the basic fee): six months.

Rights acquired by a patent: the patent confers to the applicant an exclusive exploitation right and to forbid third parties from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, using and importing or storing in view of offering for sale.

Marking: as patented goods: optional.

Modification of Protection after Granting

Right of prior user: prior use on the territory of Romania is recognized within the limits of the use at the filing date.

Assignment: the patent application, as well as the patent and rights arising therefrom may be assigned. In order to become opposable to third parties, the assignment (notarized copy) has to be registered and published by the Romanian State Office. 

Licenses: exclusive or non-exclusive licenses are possible. Registration at the State Office is not compulsory, but any transmission of rights produces effects to third parties only after its date of publication in the Romanian Official Bulletin of Industrial Property. Not registering implies no evidence before the Courts.

Infringement: making, using, putting into circulation without having the right or any other infringement of the exclusive rights of the granted patent constitutes counterfeiting and is sanctioned according to the civil and penal law. Legal action is started on request of the damaged party. Applicants have the right to indemnification according to the Common Right and the counterfeited products may be seized and destroyed.

Compulsory licenses: possible. On request of an interested party the Bucharest Law Court may grant a compulsory license after lapse of a four-year period from the filing of the patent application or three years from the issue of the Letters Patent, whichever expires last only if the invention has not been sufficiently exploited and the applicant cannot justify his inactivity or prove exploitation (by manufacture, importation, sales, advertisement, etc).

Working: not compulsory. Lack of working does not lead to patent cancellation but can lead to compulsory license.

Rights derived from a European Patent

Romania is a member State of the EPC since March 1, 2013 (previously, an extension agreement had been in force since October 15, 1996).

Rights conferred by a published European patent application: provisional protection is obtainable by filing and publication of the Romanian translation of the claims. 

Validation of a European patent: in order to validate in Romania a European patent, the Romanian translation of the full text of the specification must be filed within three months from the publication of the mention of grant of the European patent or within three further months, subject to a 100 euro fine. A Romanian representative must be appointed and a power of attorney must be filed in original, simply signed in the name of the patent proprietor. 

Annuities must be paid for the years following the publication of the mention of grant by the anniversary of the filing date.

Supplementary Protection Certificates

Legal basis: Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals are granted on the basis of Regulation 469/2009/EEC and Regulation 1610/96/EEC as such.

Filing: SPC applications may be filed within six months from the date on which the first marketing authorization was granted in Romania or within six months from the publication of the decision to grant the basic patent, whichever expires last.

Duration: maximum five years from the date on which the basic patent expires, as established in Article 13 of the Regulations. As per CJEU Decision in case C-471/14, the date of notification of the marketing authorization is taken into account for computing the SPC duration.

Extension of six months for medicinal products for paediatric use is available under Regulation (EC) No. 1901/2006.